THE UTTER DEPRAVITY OF FALLEN MAN

John Calvin,
1509-64, a religious reformer and theologian, born in France: leader of the
Protestant Reformation in Geneva, Switzerland. Calvinism = Dict: 1.
Theol. a. the doctrines and church practices taught by John Calvin who
emphasized the sovereignty of God, predestination; the authority of Scriptures,
Presbyterian polity, and strict church discipline. b. the doctrines of later
theologians who accepted Calvin’s teachings with various modifications.

“Man’s
depravity, as a result of the fall, is total. He does not possess free
will because he is bound to Satan
who takes man captive at his will. All people are born into this world spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins so that their dead human spirits are
irresistibly drawn to the god of the dead. Man is depraved in the sense that he
is dead, blind, deaf, unteachable in the things of God and ruled by Satan
through his perverse heart and corrupt soul.” (Quoted from TULIP: The Five
Points of Calvinism in the Light of Scripture by Duane Edward Spenser.)

“When
Calvinists speak of man as totally depraved, they mean that man's nature
is corrupt, perverse, and sinful throughout. The adjective "total"
does not mean that each sinner is as totally or completely corrupt in his
actions and thoughts as it is possible for him to be. Instead, the word
"total" is used to indicate that the "whole" of man's being
has been affected by sin. The corruption extends to every part of man, his body
and soul; sin has affected all (the totality) of man's faculties - his mind, his
will, etc. As a result of this inborn corruption, the natural man is totally
unable to do anything spiritually good; thus Calvinists speak of man's
"total inability." The inability intended by this terminology is spiritual
inability; it means that the sinner is so spiritually bankrupt that he can
do nothing pertaining to his salvation. It is quite evident that many unsaved
people, when judged by man's standards, do possess admirable qualities and do
perform virtuous acts. But in the spiritual realm, when judged by God's
standards, the unsaved sinner is incapable of good. The natural man is
enslaved to sin; he is a child of Satan, rebellious toward God, blind to the
truth, corrupt, and unable to save himself or to prepare himself for salvation.
In short, the unsaved man is dead in sin, and his will is enslaved to his
evil nature." (Quoted from Five Points of Calvinism by David N.
Steele and Curtis C. Thomas. Louisville: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing
Co., 1989, page 25.)

“Man is spiritually
dead in his sin, not just wounded. Man does
not possess “free will”. Man is bound to Satan who has taken
man’s will captive. Man is hostile to God. Man cannot please God. Man
cannot understand the things of God. Man is in bondage to sin and Satan. As a
result of the fall, sin has totally affected all the faculties of man, making
man unable to contribute anything towards his own salvation. As the
following Scriptures state, man does not seek after God, but rather man is dead
in sin.” (Quoted from www.reformeddoctrine.org
by William J. Hornbeck II.)

THERE
IS NONE THAT SEEKETH AFTER GOD

(Psa 14:3)They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy[to
muddle, i.e. to turn (morally) corrupt]: there
is none that doeth good,no, not one. [Psa 53:3]

(Isa 64:6)But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like
the wind, have taken us away.

(Rom 3:10-12)As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none
that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are
all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable [rendered
useless]; there is none that doeth good, no,
not one.

(Rom 5:12)Wherefore, as by one man [Adam]sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned:

(Eph 2:1,2)And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins:
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience:

UNSAVED
MEN ARE BEASTS, AND AS SUCH, BESTIAL

(Eccl 3:18)I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God
might manifest them[Heb: barar],
and that they might see [discern]that
they themselves are beasts.

2.Commentary
= the Hebrew word barar is used eighteen
times in the OT and always in a good sense. Within the context of Eccl 3:18,
this word might best be amplified to mean “to make apparent to the chosen of
them through their cleansing and purification.”

3.beasts = Heb: (prob. mean. to be mute); prop. a dumb beast; espec. any
large quadruped or animal (often collectively).

4.beast = Dict: 1. any animal except man, but esp. a large four-footed one.
2. the animal nature common to man and nonhumans. 3. a coarse, filthy,
or otherwise beastlike human.

(Gen 2:7,8)And the LORD God formedman of the dust of the ground[soil (earth, wilderness)], and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul [an
amalgamation of heaven and earth]. And the LORD
God planted a garden[(fenced), i.e. to keep in, or to keep out,
or both? separation]eastward in Eden[delight]; and there he put the
man whom he had formed.

1.amalgamate = Dict: 1. to mix so as to make a combination; blend; unite;
combine: to amalgamate two companies.

3.Commentary:
God placed something (the Garden) in the midst of the wilderness of the
earth. A parallel would be sort of like us setting up a tent in the woods.
Did God add another creation (the Garden) to His creation of the heaven
and the earth, or did God form something that is the Garden out of the
heaven and the earth? The evidence overwhelmingly leans toward “form,” as
witnessed by the presence in the Garden of the tree of life (Christ-Jesus) and
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Lucifer-Satan), both of which are an
amalgamation (combination) of heaven and earth. Isn’t man also an
amalgamation (combination) of heaven and earth? (Gen 2:7) “And the
LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [soil (where did the soil
come from? The earth)], and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life [where did the breath of life come from? The
heaven]; and man became a living soul.”
Man was formed out of an amalgamation (combination) of heaven and earth, just
like Christ (heavenly aspect) Jesus (earthly aspect), and Lucifer (heavenly
aspect) Satan (earthly aspect), whereas the beasts of the earth are always only
beasts, earthly with no heavenly aspect.

4.Commentary:
God has set some men destined to be beasts from the foundation of the world,
and some men destined to be saints from the foundation of the world. This
setting or planting is exemplified in the parable of the tares of the field
wherein “the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the
children of the wicked one;” (Mat 13:38). The wheat are planted wheat and
remain wheat eternally, and the tares are planted tares and remain tares
eternally. Wheat never become tares, and tares never become wheat.
Beasts (tares) never know that they are not saints (wheat) in this life.